| |
|
French Literature
Aestheticism
A theory of art and an approach to living that influenced many European and American gay male and lesbian writers at the turn of the twentieth century, aestheticism stressed the independence of art from all moral and social conditions and judgments.
Amazons
Historically either distrusted as agents of chaos or admired as examples of female power and intelligence, Amazons were depicted as heterosexual until the twentieth century, when lesbians adopted them as symbols of powerful women living without men.
Balzac, Honoré de
One of the masters of French nineteenth-century fiction, Balzac provocatively includes both lesbian and gay male characters in his novels.
Barthes, Roland
French semiotician Roland Barthes argued that the reintroduction of the sentimentality of love into sexuality would be the ultimate transgression.
Baudelaire, Charles
Baudelaire was among the first French poets to include lesbians as subjects.
Beach, Sylvia
Through her Parisian bookshop and her editorial work, American expatriate and lesbian Sylvia Beach did much to influence the course of modern literature.
Beauvoir, Simone de
Best known for her revolutionary study of women's condition, The Second Sex (1949) and as the companion of philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir had a number of same-sex relationships during her life.
Bisexual Literature
Although Western culture's reliance upon binary systems of classification and identification has meant the practical erasure of bisexuality, as such, from literary and cultural analysis, bisexual experiences appear in many literary works from ancient times to the present.
Cixous, Hélène
French feminist theorist and novelist Hélène Cixous celebrates female homoeroticism and feminist solidarity.
Cocteau, Jean
An outspoken homosexual, Jean Cocteau was a prolific poet, novelist, critic, essayist, artist, and filmmaker.
|
|
|
|
